Previews

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

From a gameplay perspective, we saw much of what was introduced in Tony Hawk's Project 8 being brought over and enhanced in Proving Ground. The nail-the-trick mechanic is back, and now you'll be able to nail-the-manual and nail-the-grab as well, which could make for a perpetual state of slo-mo' if you so wish. Still, there seems to be a much stronger focus on individual control of your tricks, allowing you to really get creative and come up with moves that could never have been pulled off before.

Make You a Celebrity Overnight

One of the more community-oriented aspects of Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is the new video editor. With it, you can record competitions, demos and skate videos from the career challenges, or you can just record your most well-performed goals or favorite lines. With the toolset, you'll be able to trim, edit or rearrange bits and pieces together, adding overlays, effects, slow-motion sequences, new cameras and music from the soundtrack to your liking. The finished product will be about two MB in size, and you can then upload this personalized skate video to the leaderboards for anyone to check out. Photos can similarly be taken at any time and place within the game, which can be sent to show unique areas you've skated or particularly impressive shots.

While we still haven't gotten any hands-on time with Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, we like the direction that NeverSoft is taking with this game. For the first time, choices you make during the single-player story/career mode may actually have a tangible impact on the growth and progression of your character. It'll be particularly interesting to see how career, rigger, and hardcore skaters face off against each other in the forthcoming online multiplayer modes. Being able to share your videos online, invite other skaters to your personal skater lounge, and take a bevy of trash-talking photographs could potentially make for an exciting community. We'll have much more on NeverSoft's latest during E3, so stay tuned.